Red's Journey Home
by BibbledyJelllo
Summary: When Red gets sick of being on a mountain, he decides to see his old pals. What could a 19 year old Red do in Kanto?


Red's Return

Prologue?

It had been years since Red, the ten year old hero of Kanto, had left to go train in Johto.

"I'll come back!" he promised. "I'm gonna beat the Johto league too! I'll come back and see you all! Bye, mom! Bye, Professor Oak! See ya, Blue!"

So he left. Red left, destroying the Johto league with his powerful Pokémon. After all, he did catch every single Kanto Pokémon and trained them! No trouble, right? He met this boy named Silver, a crimson-haired boy with a bad attitude.

Finally, Red traversed through the Ice Cavern, and made it to Blackthorn City.

"Hey, so this is what's at the end of that infernal cave!" he cheered.

A sign read: _Welcome to Blackthorn City, traveller! Blackthorn City is a quiet mountain retreat. Gym Leader: Claire._

"Heh, a girl gym leader! She should be such a push-over! I mean, I have Charizard, Espeon, and of course my powerful Pikachu by my side! Dragon type? Wow! Too easy for me! I beat Lance, he was tough for sure! So many Dragonites..." Red shook his head. "Well, it's not like there's a lot of Dragons out there!"

Red strolled right up to the gym. Traditional Japanese music was softly floating through the air. The gym was covered in burning, hot coals.

"Man, this is a lot of fire for a Dragon gym!" Red exclaimed, panting from the heat.

Red's Charizard roared in excitement, rearing its head.

"Hey, champion in the making!" the Gym Gent exclaimed. "This gym is a Dragon type gym! You should-"

"Uh, I could care less about your freaking tips, old man. Where were you in Kanto, where I needed you?" Red said, upset.

"Hey, kid... I was only trying to warn you! It's kinda hot in here, for two reasons! The coals are too hot to traverse. Claire has set up platforms for you to ride on. Unfortunately, the heat is still present. You should keep your Pokémon in their balls."

"You idiot! Charizard is a fire type Pokémon! He won't care. What is the other hot thing, anyway?" Red asked.

"Uh, well, hey! The platform's coming! So, get ready!" the Gym Gent stammered.

Red leaped onto the platform, barely missing the burning coals.

"Whoa, that was scary. Are you scared, Charizard?" Red asked his friend.

"ROOOOAR!" Charizard shook his head, then turning it up to spit out a blast of flame.

Red fought the gym trainers, a decent challenge, but nothing he hadn't seen. His platform hovered over to where to coals stopped. There was a good 15 meter size pool where the coals stopped. But, no gym leader! Red stepped off his platform, to walk across a bridge over the water.

"Hey, you!" a female voice screamed.

"What? I mean, who is that?" Red said, scared.

"It is I, Claire! The blessed user of Dragon type Pokémon!" she smirked.

"_Now I know what the other hot thing is."_ Red thought.

"Hey, you're just a wimpy Lance, I bet! And a girl! I'm going to defeat you, no matter how much I don't want to!" Red shouted, confidence filling his voice.

"Get out. Now!" Claire hollered. "You are an inexperienced loser, and a sexist one at that. Nobody like you deserves to win anyway." she scoffed. "Not that you'd even have a chance!" Claire pointed to the exit.

"But..." Red tried to come up with an excuse. "It takes so long to wait for the platforms and back!"

"And a lazy sexist loser at that! You do nothing but bank on your Pokémon from Kanto, you've made no effort to explore the beautiful region of Johto, or catch any of its Pokémon. You have made every gym leader unhappily give you a badge, but none of them wanted to. Guess what? I am the final gym leader before the Pokémon League, and I have permission to deny access to said league if I deem any trainer unfit. And you, are incredibly unfit. Go away before I deny you permanently."

Suddenly, a gong sounded.

"Oh, crap." Clair groaned.

An elderly man, in a blue kimono, dropped down from the ceiling.

Claire bowed. "_Kid, bow to grandpa! I mean, the Master!" she hissed._

"Claire! What are you doing to this poor young boy?" he asked, disappointed.

"Well, I deem him unfit to go on to the S-s-silver League, Master of the Dragon Tamer Clan." she whimpered.

"And the cause?" he asked, with a stern tone in his voice.

"Well... he was using all of his old Pokémon! And, and, he was sexist! And, he uh... said I was weaker than Lance!"

"Now, Claire. Even though this boy may have gotten under your skin, there's no reason he can't have a fair match with you! If you aren't aware, **he's the boy who stopped Team Rocket.** Red, right?"

Red nodded.

"And hey, boy?" he asked.

"Yeah, Master?"

"You probably shouldn't compare Claire to Lance again. They have a big sibling/cousin rivalry going on, dontchaknow." he said. "Now! You two have a gym battle, and I will spectate! Claire and Red, begin your match!"

Claire sent out her Dragonair. "You don't stand a chance against my Dragonair!" she yelled, excited.

"Yeah, I do! Pidgeot stands a good chance!" Red said assertively, calling out Lapras.

"Dragonair, begin with a Dragon Rush!" Claire shouted.

Dragonair flew up in a swarm of blue light, and crashed down on Lapras, slamming Pidgeot straight into Red at a break-neck pace. Break necks it did, slamming Red and Pidgeot both into the coals, searing them both.

"Oh my god... AAAAAAHHHHgggg..." Red yelped.

"Pidgooooooo!" Pidgeot cried, screaming and shrieking the whole time.

Red blacked out. The last thing he heard was the voice of the Master.

"And he had a good future ahead of him too... oh! His Pidgeot... his Pidgeot is in a better place now. Alert the city officials, Clair! Call Lance in too. We're going to have a ceremony tonight."

Red woke up, on top of Mount Silver. He had never felt so much pain in his life. It was snowing, the falling snow doing nothing but making him feel number. Red noticed torches burning, with a wooden post next to it. In burned in letters, it read:

_In honor of Red, the 12 year old hero of Kanto. He perished on coals during a gym battle with Blackthorn's leader, Claire._

Flowers and little notes were left. Red read them. All from people he'd never met.

"_My god." _he thought. _"There's no way anyone from Pallet came! It's too expensive to come up here! I know Mom couldn't afford it. Johto's pretty far away. Maybe, nobody even knows! I didn't even get a chance to ask Leaf out! There's so much I could have done. But, wait! I'm still alive. What if everyone thinks I'm dead? I couldn't go back! They'd go bonkers! I'll call for help once, hope and pray for a Delibird, then I'll just stay here."_ Red decided.

Red tried to scream, but he couldn't pry his mouth open. He attributed it to the devilish cold. A 12 year old kid, stuck with no good option. He waited and waited for months, getting used to the cold.

After eternity, he came across a cocky boy named Gold.

"Whoah, bro! Who are you? Why are you at the famous Red's Tomb? Cosplaying, or something?" Gold asked.

Red flailed his arms, but still, he couldn't speak.

"Brah, you got any potions on you? It's been two days climbing up here, and my Pokémon are busted!" Gold laughed.

Red begrudgingly dug through his bag. There it was! A Full Restore!

"Hey cosplayer dude, this is months out of date! Thanks, though. Do you wanna battle?" Gold smiled, and turned his cap.

Obviously Red said nothing. "_He turns his cap the way I did!"_ Red thought. He pulled out his Pokéball, and suddenly more worries flooded his brain. "_Are my friends okay after all this time? Did they forget me?_" He reached for Pidgeot. He wasn't there! He wasn't anywhere!

"Hey, are you all right? Show me ya' balls, cosplayer!" Gold cheered.

Red began sobbing, his tears literally freezing to his face. _"Pidgeot!" _he thought-cried. _"Where are you, girl? Come perch on my arm! No! It can't be!"_

With all his rage, he flung a ball to the ground. It was Espeon! Espeon's usually silky violet fur was all matted and clumpy. Espeon took it on the chin, looking up at Red, smiling her usual happy grin. They could telepathically communicate, a huge relief to Red.

"_Wow, hey Espeon! Hi! Hi!" _Red telesaid.

"_Hello, Red. I can tell what you're thinking. I can understand you can't talk. I know what you've been thinking for all these months. It's been so cold! I'm so ugly and matted! But, I don't know where Pidgeot is. I'm sorry! I'm so sorry... I think we lost her to Claire! I wasn't out, but I could hear what was going on. From the sound of it, Pidgeot roasted alive. I'm sorry Red." _Espeon telereplied.

"_Coals."_ Red telesaid. _"Burning coals. Oh my god. They thought I died and I-"_

Red lost connection as Gold decided to attack.

"Feraligatr, use Water Gun!" Gold shouted enthusiastically.

Red had Espeon retaliate with a Psychic. Espeon could sense the urgency, and focused 100% of her power into this one Psychic, blasting Feraligatr away in a blast of powerful mind power. Feraligatr tumbled down the cliffs, going _rump-dut-dut, rump-dut-dut_ over and over.

"_Oh, no. I can't let Gold's Pokémon pass away like my Pidgeot!"_ Red thought.

He slid down the cliffs, endlessly trying to pursue this Feraligatr. From the mountaintop, Espeon gave Red a short teleportation boost. Red caught the mighty Feraligatr, and just barely stopped him.

Red guided Feraligatr back up Mount Silver, where Gold and Espeon were. Everyone was tired and worn out.

"Hey, uh, thanks a bunch, man! But I'm gonna go now, if you don't mind. I'll take you back down Mount Silver, if you want. You think it's cold now? Well, these cliffs are basically 90 degree angles, and in the winter, don't even think about being up here. You'll lose oxygen so quickly you won't know where your breath went."

Red shook his head, and waved his hand to dismiss Gold. Red, now inspired and excited by his reminder of Pokémon training, spent to next seven years doing nothing but that. His Charizard burned the dirt into hard rock for training, and his tail flame kept the whole party warm in the coldest of winter months. Red did nothing but get stronger over time, fighting challengers every so often. When what could be called summer came around though, Red took a moment to collect himself. He called out Espeon, his one companion he could talk to.

"_Hey Espeon, I've been thinking." _Red telesaid.

"_That's dangerous for you, huh Red?"_ Espeon teased.

"_No, really. Nobody from Pallet's been up here yet. Maybe they don't know of my death!"_

"_Red, don't get any ideas. if anything, you're gonna scare the crap out of some poor person, not to mention your mother._

"_But it's been seven years! I'm nineteen now. Not the ten year old I was then. They might not even recognize me!" _Red telepressed.

"_No. I think it's a bad idea." _Espeon said, sternly.

"_Well, that's proof enough to me that it's a __great__ idea!"_ Red telesaid triumphantly.

"_Oh, dear Arceus."_ Espeon telegroaned.


End file.
